1991 & 2018


LONG-RANGE FOR THE


MODERN AGE R


With ATACMS having been surpassed by Russia and China, the U.S. doesn’t just want to catch up, it wants to dominate.


estoring the United States’ domi- nance in long-range precision fires tops the list of six modernization priorities released by Army Chief


of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and then-acting Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy in October. If you could go back in time and tell readers of this magazine’s predecessor in the early 1990s that this would be the case—that, 20 years later, the Army had lost its edge in long-range missiles, and to Russia, no less—they probably would have been surprised.


Ten, the United States was the last superpower left standing, and the precise missiles that let it strike important targets far behind enemy lines were a crucial part of establishing its military superiority in the post-Cold War order. Now, as Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins acknowledged at the 2017 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting, the United States could be “outranged and outgunned” by adversaries.


162 Army AL&T Magazine April - June 2018


Te Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, was the Army’s first long-range tactical missile. It debuted in 1986 to attack high-value targets like airfields, artillery and missile forces, supply areas and command groups. ATACMS helped the United States and its allies to quick victory in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.


Ten-Army Acquisition Executive Stephen K. Conver described ATACMS’ performance in Operation Desert Storm in the May-June 1991 issue of Army RD&A Bulletin (this magazine’s predecessor): “Te system was used against surface-to-air missile sites, logistics sites, Scud [missile] positions, howitzer and rocket batter- ies, and tactical bridges” and was viewed as a


“precious asset.” “Indications are that ATACMS destroyed, or rendered inoperable, all of its targets.”


Te first iteration of ATACMS could hit sta- tionary surface targets up to 100 miles away. Te second generation, Block 1A, added GPS


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